OPENING CELEBRATION
Thursday, July 20 at 10am
The London & Middlesex Heritage Museum, which operates Fanshawe Pioneer Village, was offered the gift of a building known as the Fugitive Slave Chapel. Constructed circa 1848 by the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Chapel is the oldest surviving building that speaks to London’s Black history. It served the community as a place of gathering and worship – including for many who escaped enslavement through the Underground Railroad.
Together with a dedicated committee of community partners, and following a great deal of planning and fundraising – they successfully relocated the Fugitive Slave Chapel to Fanshawe Pioneer Village in late November of 2022. (Watch the relocation video: The AME Chapel moves to Fanshawe Pioneer Village – YouTube) Now at the Museum, this significant physical piece of local Black history will be fully restored and interpreted as the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Village will work to share historic truths and authentic narratives through public and educational programming.
